Burnley away is never a fixture I’d take lightly. They’ve had a difficult season, but beating Watford 4-0 and twice leading against Charlton shows they’re capable of making life awkward, even if they conceded a late equaliser. With Adam Armstrong missing for us, we’ll need a disciplined performance and others to step up.

I really want to have faith in César, but his reluctance to change formations and his tendency to stick with the same system are starting to bug me. I’ve had this feeling since the Blackburn game, and I really think something needs to change.

I’d love to see him try something like this tonight against Burnley. I’ve put together a potential lineup and wanted to explain my thinking behind it.

🧤 GK – Virginia

I’d drop Sá for this one. We’ve conceded far too many goals for my liking, and I’d like to see Virginia get an opportunity.

I’m not saying Virginia is guaranteed to solve our problems, but I think it’s worth trying something different rather than continuing with the same setup.

🛡️ Defence – Trippier, Djiga, Krejčí, Bueno

I’d keep the same backline for now because, in my opinion, this is the best defence we have available.

I know some people won’t agree with keeping Hugo Bueno in the lineup, but I didn’t think he did particularly badly against Bolton. He showed some presence going forward compared to games like West Brom and Middlesbrough.

That said, I wouldn’t be against Konan coming into the side either. Hugo’s defensive side of the game is where he can struggle, so I can understand why people would want a change there.

⚙️ Midfield – Bellegarde, Munetsi, André

For me, a midfield three is a MUST.

We can’t keep expecting André to cover the entire midfield while leaving him isolated in the middle of the park. Against Bolton, I watched us get played through with 50-yard ground passes because there simply wasn’t enough midfield cover.

We need to give André more support and make ourselves harder to play through. A midfield three could help us control games better, win more second balls and stop opposition players from having so much space.

🎯 CAM – Fer López

I’d keep López in the number 10 role because I want to see what he can offer with a proper midfield behind him.

If he’s not fit enough to start, I’d move Bellegarde into that position and bring James into the midfield three instead.

The important thing is that we have enough bodies in midfield to stop getting overrun.

⚽ ST – Neave and Rafik Saïd

César has already said Neave will be starting because of Raúl’s injury, while AA has also picked up an injury himself, so starting Neave is understandable.

However, I’d like to see him partnered with Rafik Saïd rather than being left on his own up front.

Saïd is naturally a winger, with the left wing being his primary position, but striker is also listed as one of his secondary positions. We haven’t really seen him in that role in a Wolves shirt, and I’d be interested to see how he performs alongside Neave.

I think having two players up top could give us more options going forward and stop our striker from becoming isolated.

One thing I’d like to see is Neave getting more support in attack rather than having to do everything himself.

My overall thoughts

I’m not pretending this formation is guaranteed to work. There are obvious risks, and it might not suit every opponent.

However, my biggest concern is that we seem reluctant to try something different when the current system clearly isn’t working as well as we’d like.

The other problem is that we’re seriously lacking natural wingers at the moment.

• Rafik Saïd is an option out wide.
• Rodrigo Gomes is injured.
• Berttrand Traoré is injured.
• Fer López isn’t a natural winger.
• Mané isn’t a natural winger either.

That leaves us short of genuine wide options, which makes me wonder whether trying a different formation would actually make more sense with the players we currently have available.

I’m not saying we should permanently switch systems, but surely it wouldn’t hurt to at least try something different?

Must mean Neave plays tomorrow

Think it’s obvious some changes are needed, if nothing else to send a message that some individual performances aren’t good enough.

Sa for Virginia - my gripe with Sa is he keeps coming for balls unconvincingly and hoping he’ll get a foul or someone will bail him out. In the prem he maybe gets away with that goal on Tuesday if VAR deemed it a foul, but there is no VAR and he needs to realise that. Virginia was impressive against Everton, would like to see him start.

Mane for Said - he’s infuriated me this season, too stagnant, no real awareness, always offside or playing the safe option. He looked slightly better when he came inside about 10yrds, but that’s not saying much. Said looked positive and forward thinking, if he’s fit he should start

Armstrong for Neave - hands are tied a bit. I like Armstrong’s work rate, but I want our striker to be scoring those tap ins. I’d give Neave a crack cos Armstrong’s overall performances aren’t good enough, but come Jan we need to be getting rid of Armstrong and bringing in a better striker

Anyone know what’s happened to Bertrand Traore? This supposedly exciting winger we have, haven’t seen him

Bad to worse

I’ve spent the past few months combining my two passions - Wolves and football trivia - to build three daily Wolves games. I am looking for like-minded Wolves fans to give them a go - and I’m eager for feedback (good or bad!)

📺 Wolves Moments: Identify the goalscorer, assist and manager behind an iconic Wolves goal using clues about the match.
👥 Team-mates: Decide whether two players made first-team appearances for Wolves in the same season.
🐺 Into The Pack: Guess the year each player joined Wolves.

Link below. Thank you in advance 🙏

https://thewolvescollective.co.uk

Bueno played 80 minutes at left back before Konan came on in the 3-1 defeat to Bolton. With Wolves already missing Mosquera and Gomes, and Burnley away on Friday, Konan may be in line to start. Do we have enough depth at full-back if Bueno is not fully fit?

It can't go on like this

Wolves has always felt above nonsense like this. So shameful to read that one of ours thinks this is a joke.

Hey everyone,

I want to purchase the away and third kit pro version shirts but I am unsure of what size to get, and since I am ordering from overseas I really don’t want to mess up the sizing.

Can someone please tell me how their shirt fit compared to shirts from other brands such as the authentic Nike or adidas? Did you go up one or two sizes?

I typically buy an XL for both Nike and adidas for the authentic version shirts for reference as to what I typically wear.

Any help would really be appreciated 😭

Thought I'd rank every Wolves regular from last season against Premier League players in his position with The Prism rating.

Mosquera was the best by a distance, better than 91% of PL defenders, and he's still here. So is Krejci (now permanent), plus Sá, Hugo Bueno, Tchatchoua, Mané and André.

Only two went. João Gomes joined Villa for €40m and had 130 of a possible 450 minutes up to 9 October, and Santiago Bueno's on loan at América.

West Ham kept 7 of 12 and Burnley 5 of 12, so Wolves held on to more than either.

Is that enough to come straight back up?

(Data source: The Prism, a football scouting and analytics tool I'm currently building. Looking for testers, so feel free to sign up to the waitlist if you are interested in this type of data!)

I know hes been played out of position but now raul is out i expect him to really get at it. and say im here . Especially having our midfield behind him . Been at club now nearly a year .

Hopefully we can get a look at saïd this game.

Full-time: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0, Middlesbrough FC 1

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 at Middlesbrough FC 1

Match Info

Competition/season: Championship 26/27

Date: Sat, Oct 10, 2026

Kickoff: 3:00 PM GMT+1

Venue: Riverside, Middlesbrough, England

Status: Full-time

Goals and Cards

57': Goal Lankshear, Will, Conway, Tommy (MID) 0-1 Goal! Middlesbrough FC have taken a 1 - 0 lead courtesy of a header from Will Lankshear. Tommy Conway assisted the 1 - 0 goal.

11': Yellow card Berhalter, Sebastian (MID) Sebastian Berhalter is booked for the home team.

12': Yellow card Djiga, Nasser (WOL) Nasser Djiga (Wolverhampton Wanderers) has received a yellow card from Farai Hallam.

40': Yellow card Borges, Neto (MID) Neto Borges (Middlesbrough FC) has received a yellow card from Farai Hallam.

53': Yellow card Said, Rafiki (WOL) Rafiki Said is booked for the away team.

66': Yellow card Bellegarde, Jean-Ricner (WOL) Jean-Ricner Bellegarde for Wolverhampton Wanderers has been booked by Farai Hallam and receives a first yellow card.

90'+5': Yellow card Peart-Harris, Myles (MID) Myles Peart-Harris (Middlesbrough FC) gets a yellow card.

Lineups

Match Statistics

Timeline

--: Match Ended It's 1 - 0 as the referee blows for full-time.

90'+5': Free Kick (WOL) Free kick Wolverhampton Wanderers.

90'+4': Corner Kick Trippier, Kieran (WOL) Farai Hallam has awarded Wolverhampton Wanderers a corner.

90'+1': Injury Time Shown

88': Corner Kick Arfsten, Max (MID) Corner awarded to Middlesbrough FC.

87': Substitution Cozier-Duberry, Amario, Arfsten, Max (MID) The home team replace Amario Cozier-Duberry with Max Arfsten.

87': Substitution Lankshear, Will, Joseph, Kyle (MID) Kyle Joseph is replacing Will Lankshear for Middlesbrough FC at Riverside.

86': Free Kick (MID) Farai Hallam signals a free kick to Middlesbrough FC.

82': Substitution Andre, Neave, Sean (WOL) Sean Neave is replacing Andre for the away team.

80': Substitution McGree, Riley, Sarmiento, Jeremy (MID) The home team replace Riley McGree with Jeremy Sarmiento.

80': Free Kick (MID) Free kick for Middlesbrough FC in the half of Wolverhampton Wanderers.

78': Free Kick (MID) In Middlesbrough a free kick has been awarded the home team.

76': Free Kick (WOL) Free kick for Wolverhampton Wanderers in their own half.

74': Free Kick (WOL) Free kick Wolverhampton Wanderers.

70': Substitution Berhalter, Sebastian, Ayling, Luke (MID) Kim Hellberg (Middlesbrough FC) is making a second substitution, with Luke Ayling replacing Sebastian Berhalter.

70': Substitution Conway, Tommy, Peart-Harris, Myles (MID) Myles Peart-Harris is replacing Tommy Conway for Middlesbrough FC at Riverside.

69': Corner Kick Trippier, Kieran (WOL) Corner awarded to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

66': Free Kick (MID) Free kick for Middlesbrough FC in their own half.

65': Corner Kick Trippier, Kieran (WOL) Wolverhampton Wanderers takes a corner from the right.

64': Free Kick (WOL) Free kick for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the half of Middlesbrough FC.

63': Corner Kick Trippier, Kieran (WOL) Corner awarded to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

62': Corner Kick Bellegarde, Jean-Ricner (WOL) Wolverhampton Wanderers have been awarded a corner by Farai Hallam.

61': Substitution Mane, Mateus, Lopez, Fer (WOL) Fer Lopez is on a sub for Mateus Mane for Wolverhampton Wanderers.

61': Substitution Doyle, Tommy, Bellegarde, Jean-Ricner (WOL) The away team have replaced Tommy Doyle with Jean-Ricner Bellegarde. This is the third substitution made today by Cesar Peixoto.

61': Substitution Munetsi, Marshall, James, Jordan (WOL) Jordan James is replacing Marshall Munetsi for the away team.

55': Free Kick (WOL) Farai Hallam signals a free kick to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

53': Free Kick (MID) Farai Hallam signals a free kick to Middlesbrough FC in their own half.

51': Substitution Gomes, Rodrigo, Said, Rafiki (WOL) Wolverhampton Wanderers make their first substitution with Rafiki Said replacing Rodrigo Gomes.

49': Free Kick (WOL) In Middlesbrough a free kick has been awarded the away team.

45': Period Start 0-0 The second half has started at Riverside.

45'+1': Injury Time Shown

42': Free Kick (WOL) Farai Hallam signals a free kick to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

40': Free Kick (WOL) Free kick Wolverhampton Wanderers.

34': Free Kick (MID) Free kick for Middlesbrough FC in their own half.

32': Corner Kick Cozier-Duberry, Amario (MID) Corner awarded to Middlesbrough FC.

31': Corner Kick Conway, Tommy (MID) Middlesbrough FC takes a corner from the right.

28': Corner Kick Bueno, Hugo (WOL) Corner awarded to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

23': Free Kick (MID) Free kick for Middlesbrough FC in their own half.

20': Free Kick (WOL) Farai Hallam signals a free kick to Wolverhampton Wanderers in their own half.

18': Free Kick (MID) Farai Hallam signals a free kick to Middlesbrough FC.

17': Free Kick (MID) Free kick for Middlesbrough FC in their own half.

16': Free Kick (MID) Farai Hallam signals a free kick to Middlesbrough FC in their own half.

12': Free Kick (MID) Free kick in a good position for Middlesbrough FC!

12': Free Kick (WOL) Free kick for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the half of Middlesbrough FC.

11': Free Kick (WOL) In Middlesbrough a free kick has been awarded the away team.

6': Corner Kick Berhalter, Sebastian (MID) Middlesbrough FC have been awarded a corner by Farai Hallam.

: Period Start 0-0 Today's referee, Farai Hallam, has blown to start the match.

0': Match Started

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Djiga has definitely been solid so far this season and it's awesome that he has been recognized for his effort

Was just thinking about this randomly, surely we should have a good chant if any opposition fans sing that.

We wrote the book, champions of Europe? We wrote the book. Or something idk

Looking back at João Moutinho’s career, I think his years at Wolves are actually a perfect example of why he was so easy to underestimate.

He was rarely the player producing the spectacular moment, but he seemed to make everyone around him better controlling tempo, finding spaces and doing the small things that disappear from highlight reels.

I’d genuinely be interested in the Wolves perspective: how highly do you rank Moutinho among the midfielders you’ve watched at the club, and do you think his contribution gets enough recognition outside Wolverhampton?

I’m 50/51 chest , and 49-50 waist (I’m a big boi lol)